William Snower, Jr. Obituary (2008) - Kansas City, Missouri

William Snower, Jr. died on June 5, 2008 in Kansas City, MO. Mr. Snower, the son of William and Etta Berkowitz Snower, was born in Kansas City on August 8, 1922. He is survived by his wife of 40 years, Hortense Kleitman Snower; his sister, Helen Shlien, Los Angeles, CA; his fraternal twin, Robert P. Snower, Mission Hills, KS; three nephews, two nieces, and a grandnephew. Mr. Snower attended grade school at Pem-Day, graduated from Southwest High School in 1939 and from Phillips Academy, Andover, MA in 1940. He received an A.B. magna cum laude in government from Harvard College in 1943 (class of 1944). He served in the U.S. Army (1943-1946), first in the Army Specialized Training Program Swedish Area and Language at the University of Minnesota and then for two years as a paraphraser in the Office of Strategic Services (predecessor of the CIA) in Washington, D.C. After his discharge, he returned to Cambridge and received an M.P.A. in 1947 from the Harvard Graduate School of Public Administration (now the Harvard Kennedy School). He and his brother worked for, and later owned, their father’s manufacturing businesses, Kansas City White Goods, Snower Manufacturing Company, and Pinecrest Mills (in Pine Bluff, Arkansas) from 1947 to 1967. He worked as a planning economist at the Midwest Research Institute, chiefly on studies for the national Office of Economic Opportunity from 1968 to 1970. From 1970 to 1975, he worked for the state of Missouri in Jefferson City, first as an assistant director of the Department of Community Affairs and later as deputy director of the new Department of Consumer Affairs, Regulation and Licensing, which he helped to organize. In 1977, he was a management specialist in the city of Kansas City’s Office of Housing and Community Devel opment. From 1978 to 1980, he was a development specialist in the city’s Department of Urban Affairs. From 1982 to 1991, he served as special assistant to Kansas City’s Mayor Richard L. Berkley. In May 1989, he went to China with the mayor for the formal signing of the Sister City agreement with Xi’an. From 1991 to 2002, he was manager of research at the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, where he developed government policy issues for the federal, Missouri, Kansas, and Kansas City public affairs committees. Mr. Snower was a former officeholder in the Urban League of Kansas City, Democratic Council of Jackson County, international Relations Council, and the Kansas City Chapter of the American Jewish Committee. He was a former board member of KCPT, Friends of the Library of UMKC, and Jewish Vocational Services. At the time of his death, he was a member of KCPT, IRC, Friends of the Library of UMKC, AJC, Harvard/Radcliffee Club of Kansas City, Friends of the Kansas City Public Library, Missouri Association for Social Welfare, the New Reform Temple, and Oakwood Country Club. He enjoyed politics, sports cars, and travel. Memorial contributions may be made to the Harvard Kennedy School, Cambridge, MA 02138 or to the Ruth B. Stern Scholarship Fund, National Council of Jewish Women, Greater Kansas City Section, 5750 West 95th St., Suite 118, Shawnee Mission, KS 66207. No memorial service has been planned.